TrueCrypt

4.3

March 19, 2007

New features:

• Full compatibility with 32‑bit and 64‑bit Windows Vista:

  • Support for User Account Control (UAC).
  • All .sys and .exe files are now digitally signed with the TrueCrypt Foundation certificate (issued by GlobalSign).
  • When moving the mouse on a single‑CPU computer while reading or writing data to a TrueCrypt volume, the mouse pointer no longer freezes for a second every few seconds. (Windows Vista issue)
  • Other minor compatibility‑related changes.
• TrueCrypt volume is automatically dismounted if its host device is inadvertently removed.
  Important: Before physically removing a device (e.g. a USB flash drive) that hosts a mounted TrueCrypt volume, always dismount the volume first and then perform the “Eject” or “Safely Remove Hardware” operation.
• Ability to write data to file‑hosted volumes located on devices that use a sector size other than 512 bytes (e.g. new hard drives, DVD‑RAM, some MP3 players, USB flash drives, etc.).
• Support for devices with a GPT partition table (GUID partitions). (Windows Vista/2003/XP)
• After a partition is successfully encrypted, the assigned drive letter (if any) is automatically removed. (Windows)
• Volume name (label) is displayed in the device/partition selector. (Windows)
• New hotkey: “Wipe Cache”. (Windows)
• New command line switch “/q background” for launching the TrueCrypt Background Task. (Windows)

4.2a

July 3, 2006

Bug fixes:

• Writing to a TrueCrypt volume under Linux no longer causes the system to stop responding under certain conditions.
• Occasional application errors when selecting a file (Windows XP SP2 issue) are resolved.
• Fixed bug causing installation of the TrueCrypt driver to fail under some 64‑bit Windows configurations.
• TrueCrypt volumes mounted in a remote session under Windows 2000 can now be accessed.
• The Volume Creation Wizard no longer blocks hot keys of some applications. (Windows)
• Other minor bug fixes. (Windows and Linux)

4.2

April 17, 2006

New features:

• TrueCrypt volumes can now be created under Linux.
• Ability to create a “dynamic” container (a pre‑allocated NTFS sparse file that grows as data is added).
• Volume passwords/keyfiles can be changed under Linux.
• Keyfiles can be created under Linux.
• Volume headers can be backed up and restored under Linux.
• Multiple keyfiles can be selected in the file selector by holding the Control (Ctrl) or Shift key (Windows).
• New Linux command line option: -u / --user-mount to set the default user and group ID for the mounted filesystem (useful for filesystems like FAT).
• The build.sh script now automatically configures the Linux kernel source code (if supported) to compile TrueCrypt.
• TrueCrypt volume properties can now be viewed under Linux.

3.1a

February 7, 2005

Bug fixes:

• Volumes mounted as removable media can now be checked/repaired (via chkdsk.exe), defragmented, and formatted.
• The Volume Creation Wizard now respects default mount options set via Tools > Preferences.
• Fixed bug that caused mount/dismount to fail on some systems.

3.1

January 22, 2005

Improvements:

• Partitions/devices already in use by another driver (usually an antivirus utility) can now be mounted.
• It is now possible to run multiple instances of the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard.

New features:

• TrueCrypt now runs in portable mode (i.e. without installation). There are two ways:

  1. After unpacking the binary archive, simply run TrueCrypt.exe.
  2. Use the new “Traveler Disk Setup” facility (from the Tools menu) to prepare a traveler disk that automatically launches TrueCrypt (and even mounts a specified volume) when inserted. (Note: Works only for removable media such as CD/DVD; USB memory sticks require Windows XP SP2.)
• Volumes can now be mounted as read‑only via the new “Mount Options” dialog (or with the command‑line switch /mountoption ro).
• Volumes can now be mounted as removable media (to prevent Windows from creating system folders on the volume) via “Mount Options” (/mountoption rm).
• Default mount options can now be configured in Tools > Preferences.
• A “Refresh Drive Letters” function has been added to the Tools menu (useful when Windows Explorer does not update the drive list).
• You can now select a volume by dragging its icon into the TrueCrypt window (bypassing the Windows file selector).
• /auto devices now auto‑mounts all device‑/partition‑hosted volumes. (Command‑line usage)

Bug fixes:

• “Blue screen” errors (system crashes) will no longer occur when dismounting a volume.
• The “Select Device” dialog now also displays partitions used by the system or an application.
• If a partition’s size is not a multiple of 1024 bytes, its last 512‑byte sector is now used for the volume (fixing an inherited bug from E4M).
• FAT volumes exactly 129 MB in size now report free space correctly.
• Users without administrator privileges can now create file containers under Windows Server 2003.
• Other minor bug fixes.

Improvements:

• When TrueCrypt runs in portable mode and no volumes are mounted, its driver is now unloaded.
• Access mode (read‑only or read‑write) is now shown in the volume properties dialog.
• Other minor improvements.

2.1a

October 1, 2004

Removed Features:

• IDEA encryption algorithm removed. (Important: Volumes encrypted using IDEA cannot be mounted with TrueCrypt 2.1a. Please create a new volume with a different cipher and transfer your files.)

2.1

June 21, 2004

New features:

• RIPEMD-160 hash algorithm added. (The user can select SHA‑1 or RIPEMD‑160 for volume creation and header key derivation.)
  Note: This provides a valuable alternative to SHA‑1.
• Ability to change a volume password using a user‑selected HMAC hash algorithm.
• Ability to create NTFS and unformatted volumes (removing the 2048‑GB FAT limit; note that FAT volumes remain limited to 2048 GB).
• Volume header now shows key content (instead of salt).
• Option to hide random pool, master key, and header key contents in the wizard.

1.0a

February 3, 2004

Removed features:

• TrueCrypt no longer supports Windows 98/ME.

1.0

February 2, 2004

Note: TrueCrypt 1.0 is based on E4M (Encryption for the Masses). The following lists only the major differences.

Improvements:

• Windows XP/2000 support added.
• Maximum volume size increased to 18,446,744,073 GB.
  Note: Actual limits depend on file system and hardware.
• Plausible deniability: TrueCrypt volumes appear as random data until decrypted.
• Salt length increased to 64 bytes.
• Iteration count for key derivation increased to 2,000.
• Free space filled with random data (instead of zeros) for better deniability.
• Support for encrypting up to 32 partitions per disk.
• Minimum password length increased to 12 characters; maximum reduced from 100 to 64.

Bug fixes:

New features: